‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’ Review Round-Up: Here’s What Critics are Saying

Simply put, Marvel has been on an unstoppable roll lately. Kicking off the year with Black Panther and then entering the summer with the biggest superhero film ever, Avengers: Infinity War, it looked like Marvel would keep banging out bigger and bigger films… but that is not the case. Ant-Man and The Wasp aims to bring the universe back down to earth for at least one film before Captain Marvel debuts in 2019. Reviews have finally appeared online and so we ask: does the film continue Marvel’s hot streak? If reviews are to be believed, of course it does!

The film boasts a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with critics praising performances (Evangeline Lilly in particular), the action and humor with criticism lobbied at the simple story and villain. Check out our review round-up below!

Come the end, Ant-Man and the Wasp ties up some loose ends that range back from the first Film. A sense of togetherness and family are exhaled from all perspectives including that of Lang, Van Dyne, Pym as well as even Foster and Ghost. Director Peyton Reed gave us a two-for-one not only by adding “The Wasp” into the title, but with Evangeline Lilly setting the stage and making it her film to shine and proved she is quickly rivaling mainstays like Black Widow and Gamora as one of the top heroines in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while Lang is given equal opportunity to shine.

The looseness of Ant-Man and the Wasp — even the way that Goggins’ baddie is introduced is charmingly offbeat, at least relative to his character’s greed — is a solid rejoinder to the events of Avengers: Infinity War, which almost makes its presence a bit more frustrating. Clearly, Marvel can make palate cleansers like this without overloading them with portent and pomposity. In some ways, the goofy Ant-Man and the Wasp feels more like Marvel’s wheelhouse as opposed to the strained self-seriousness of Infinity War and its monstrous baddie Thanos.

Ant-Man and the Wasp moves so fast it feels like it’s over before it begins. Set over the course of about two days in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s one of the most propulsive Marvel films to date. Director Peyton Reed’s movie is also exciting, beautiful, funny, and heartfelt to boot.

Perhaps the best way to approach “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” the sequel to the 2015 Marvel Cinematic Universe adventure that introduced the shrinking superhero, is as a Disney movie rather than a Marvel one. And when I say “Disney movie,” I mean a very specific kind: the goofy Dexter Riley comedies.

It’s hard to say which is the most lightweight, evanescent and inconsequential of the bunch — Ant-Man, the Wasp or Ant-Man and the Wasp. But while pondering this conundrum for two hours, it becomes increasingly difficult not to notice that this latest entry in the unstoppable Marvel Studios takeover of the world is probably the most amusing film the company has made since the Kevin Feige reign began a decade ago.

After I saw Ant-Man and the Wasp, I tried to remember if I saw Ant-Man and the Wasp. This is one of those Marvel products peddling self-aware detachment as a defining narrative strategy. Scientists will say science stuff — “quantum realm,” “quantum entanglement,” “quantum tunnel” — and then Scott/Ant-Man will deadpan that everyone says “quantum” too much. Characters joke so much about Captain America: Civil War that you start to wonder if you paid movie-ticket prices to read the internet two years ago. It feels less like a feature film than a meme somebody made about an Ant-Man trailer.

Ant-Man and The Wasp doesn’t have as much style as James Gunn’s Guardians movies or Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, but returning director Peyton Reed has honed in on everything that made the first Ant-Man so charming and doubled down on it, from the offbeat humor to the zippy energy radiating from every scene. It’s a smidge longer than its predecessor, but somehow feels tighter and more confident in its execution — a rare feat for a sequel.

So what do you think? Are you going to see Ant-Man and The Wasp on July 6? Let us know in the comments down below!

Share this:

Published by Nick Poulimenakos

Nick Poulimenakos is the Editor-In-Chief of Talkies Network and reports on the film and television industry. He studies management/marketing at the University of Toronto and is a self proclaimed movie /T.V show/comic book know it all.
View all posts by Nick Poulimenakos

Advertisements

Follow Our Website via Email

Enter your email address to follow this website and receive notifications of new posts by email.